Department of Education Secretary Juan Edgardo (Sonny) Angara inspected the situation of schools in Mandaue City, Cebu in a visit on Monday, August 18, 2025, where classroom shortages are apparent.

Angara vowed to assist the schools meet their needs. He vowed funds for a planned 12-storey, mid-rise school building with 42 rooms.

In a visit at the Don Gerardo Ouano Memorial National High School in Barangay Opao, Angara checked the situation in classrooms and observed a few ongoing classes.

The Education chief observed that most teachers use microphones to be audible to students.

The school has a total of 2,783 learners, but there are only 18 functional classrooms.

To address the concern on classroom shortage, the school observes two class shifts. In ratio, there are 83 students for every one teacher.

“As you know we inherited the problem with over 160,000 classrooms kuwang, kaya tinutulak natin hindi lang DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways] ang gagawa ng classroom pati local, pati private organizations,” Angara said.

He was also shown the congested classrooms at Paknaan National High School where a total of 2,531 learners use 16 classrooms. The school adopts three class shifts: morning, afternoon, and night shift.

Angara vowed funds for a planned 12-storey, mid-rise school building with 42 rooms.

"Dugay na ni nga personal nga gihangyo niya unya lipay ta nga coming from his mouth nga na approve na matagaan ta'g funding para ani,” said Mandaue City Lone District Rep. Emmarie (Lolypop) Ouano-Dizon.

The mayor of Mandaueu City said that all documents for the mid-rise school building have already been submitted.

“Ang tanang dokumento ready na na tanan no, tua na sa main office sa Manila, ang sa atong part andam na, ang approval na lang atong gihuwat,” Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Jovito (Jonkie) Ouano said.

Aside from ocular inspection of classrooms, Angara engaged in a dialogue with teachers to provide answers to a few of their concerns and questions.

Further, he led the turnover of initial laptops and tablets to teachers in line with a Malacañang directive.

“Tuloy-tuloy po, pero yung binigyang emphasis nyang laptop for every teacher at yung career progression alam nyo yan. At yung major target 30,000 new teachers for 2026, so malamang ma-close ang gap,” Angara emphasized.